Muttur fishermen receive boats, nets

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 02:29 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) recently distributed a consignment of boats, canoes and fishing nets to a group of war and tsunami affected fisher families in Kadatkaraichchenai village in the LTTE controlled Muttur east as first phase under its rehabilitation project, south of the Trincomalee district, sources said.
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SLA's failure to honor agreement, leaves thousands stranded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 01:43 GMT]
About five thousand Tamil people who came from LTTE controlled areas through Uyilankulam checkpoint to attend Tamil Resurgence Convention Wednesday were stranded in Mannar town when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) failed to honor the agreement to reopen the checkpoint from 8 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Wednesday, civil society sources said. During talks held earlier at Thallady main camp SLA agreed to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians' request to keep the checkpoint open through extended hours.
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Tamil businessman kidnapped in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 17:24 GMT]
A 35-years-old Tamil businessman from Vavuniya, Mr. Thirukumar Kalimuthu, 35, who was visiting Colombo on business has been abducted from a lodge on Colombo Dam street. Four unidentified person who entered the lodge Wednesday evening around 2:00 p.m. kidnapped the victim, occupants at the lodge said.
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TNA MPs meet Japanese envoy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 17:09 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr. R.Sampanthan and Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam told the Japanese envoy in Colombo, Mr Akio Suda, Tuesday that International Community must play an unbiased role in advancing the the Sri Lankan peace process and expressed their concern over the stalled peace process between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government, sources in Colombo said.
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TRO Batticaloa office attacked, one dead, two injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 16:09 GMT]
A 70-years-old storewatcher was killed when two motorbike-riding men lobbed grenades at the Tamil Rehabilitation Office located on Station Road near Batticaloa Railway station around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. TRO in a news release said that the attackers fired with automatic rifles for 35 minutes at their office where the watcher was killed and two TRO's Technical Officers were injured. The attackers had lobbed at least three grenades at the TRO office, according to the Police. There are two Sri Lanka Army sentry points within 100 meters from the TRO office.
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Thamilchelvan urges EU to reconsider stand on LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 12:26 GMT]
Political Head of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan appealed to the European Union for reconsideration of the recent decision made by the EU that "delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any of the EU Member States until further notice." At a news conference held at Kilinochi, Wednesday evening, Mr. Thamilchelvan pointed out that the EU's move is ill-timed to coincide with the "anti-Tamil" campaign advanced through political propaganda platforms in the South.
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Heavy SLA presence in Mannar on Resurgence Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 09:38 GMT]
Citizens of Mannar woke Wednesday morning to witness a heavy SL army presence in the town and in the vicinity of the Tamil Resurgence Convention venue where deliberations were scheduled to commence at 4.30 p.m. Large number of heavy vehicles including armoured cars were seen patrolling the area.
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'EU Statement, an impediment to peace, says IFT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 20:16 GMT]
Calling the statement from the European Union [EU], which criticised the Liberation Tigers, as one-sided and "unfair," the Geneva-based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, in a press statement issued Tuesday urged the member states of the European Union to refrain from taking any "punitive action" against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) noting that the move will jeopardise the success of the peace process.
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SLN allows students entry into Mandaitivu after protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 18:49 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) manning the checkpoint at the Pannai junction who had earlier blocked a group of Jaffna University students from entering Mandaitivu Tuesday allowed the group in, after the students held a three-hour sit-in-protest commencing from 9.30 a.m., sources in Jaffna said.


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Batticaloa auto-rickshaw driver shot dead

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 15:41 GMT]
Mr. Tennakoon Mudiyansalage Sunil (46), an auto-rickshaw driver and resident of Iruthayapuram was shot and killed Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at Kallady in Batticaloa, police said. The three wheeler driver whose mother is a Tamil and the father is a Sinhalese, was shot by two gunmen who came in a motorbike.


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SLN blocks Pongu Thamil group from entering Mandaitivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 11:47 GMT]
A group of students from Jaffna Technical College on their way to publicize forthcoming Tamil Resurgence event were barred from entering Mandaitivu by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLn) soldiers manning the Mandaitivu Junction sentry Tuesday morning, sources said.
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Woman shot dead in outskirts of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 11:06 GMT]
Jeyarasa Leelavathy, 37, from Oddumadam, was shot dead around 6.30 a.m. Tuesday by unidentified gunmen when she was coming out of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp located in the outskirts of Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said.


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"LTTE no longer welcome in EU member states"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 02:03 GMT]
The European Union Monday barred the Tamil Tigers from visiting its member states and said it was "actively considering" listing them as a terrorist organisation. Condemning what it referred to as the “continuing use of violence and terrorism by the LTTE,” the EU said it wanted the Tigers “ to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change.”
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SLA extends checkpoint hours to assist Convention attendees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 00:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Thallady main camp in Mannar district Monday agreed to extend Uyilankulam checkpoint opening time by more than 2 hours on September 30 for the people from LTTE controlled area to enter Mannar town through Uyilankulam to attend Tamil Resurgence Convention. The SLA agreed to the request when Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr.Sivanathan Kishore, Mr. Noharathalingam and Mr.Sivasakthi Anandan Monday morning met with Colonel Kariyakarawanse and sought assistance, sources said. The SLA also agreed not to deploy soldiers in the vicinity of the convention.
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Thileepan's 18th anniversary celebrated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 September 2005, 11:58 GMT]
Lt.Col.Thileepan's eighteenth death annivasary celebration was held at the Batticaloa Palugamam Throupathy Amman Kovil grounds between 10am and 3pm Monday, sources in Batticaloa said. Batticaloa district Liberation Tigers military commander Ramanan raised the Thamileelam national flag and LTTE Head of Administration Thangaiya lit the traditional oil lamp to begin the celebrations where several hundred Batticaloa residents and LTTE cadres attended.


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Thousands attend Kilinochchi, Jaffna Thileepan commemoration

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 September 2005, 11:47 GMT]
Thousands congregated at Murugan temple, Kilinochchi, Monday morning for the commemoration rally in memory of Lt.Col.Thileepan who died after a 12 day old hunger-strike protesting against the Indian IPKF and the Sri Lankan armed forces occupying the North-East.
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Trinco Tamils urged to boycott State banks

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 September 2005, 11:00 GMT]
Tamil civil groups in Trincomalee have called on the Tamil speaking people not to open new accounts in State Bank branches in the district and to boycott these branches on Tuesday September 27 to show their token opposition for the blatant discrimination meted out to educated qualified Tamil speaking youths in the recruitment process. The boycott is to continue until the bank administration steps to recruit more Tamil speaking youths, sources said.
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Displaced threaten hunger strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 September 2005, 10:54 GMT]
More than one hundred Tamil families evicted from their traditional village Gothandar Nochchikulam Vavuniya six years ago by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have demanded immediate resettlement in their villages and have threatened to go on hunger strike if the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) does not facilitate resettlement in one week. The villagers who met the SLMM in Vavuniya Monday morning pointed out that all 109 families were forcibly evicted and made internally displaced refugees (IDP), by the SLA on 14 November 1999 during a military operation, civil groups said.
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TNA parliamentarian detained at Omanthai SLA checkpoint

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 September 2005, 19:35 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning the check point at Omanthai on A 9 highway Saturday afternoon detained Jaffna bound Mr.M.K.Eelaventhan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian, for about one and a half hours even after he identified him as a lawmaker. Mr.Eelaventhan told Tamilnet that soldiers had told him that they were checking his documents and other related materials on the orders of the Sri Lanka government.
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Tamil training for Sinhala police

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 September 2005, 19:29 GMT]
"Majority of the people in the Trincomalee district are Tamil speaking. The police serving in the district should learn Tamil language to promote better understanding with Tamil speaking people and to discharge their duties effectively," said Mr.Raja Collure, Chairman of the Official Languages Commission of Sri Lanka, when inaugurating the Basic Tamil Language Training Programme for police personnel in the district Saturday.
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